For every petal
by carolina-28
Summary: Wishing upon a petal brings speedy results. Even if Merlin thought it all superstitious bull.


Thanks so much for support :) I've had difficult time of late so cheers. X

Pairing: Merlin/Arthur  
Rating: Pg  
Words: 2,866

Thanks to lovely socalrose at l.j. for fabulous beta.

* * *

Kneeling on lush wet moss, the boy was ethereal in appearance. He held aloft a thick leather bound book, twirled a daisy in one hand and remained enraptured by neither. His thoughts had long since flown to imaginary places, perhaps sown from a seed within the novel but soon taking on a life of their own.

A brook curved its way in amongst elegant willows and a particularly frothy tree shaded him from the glare of the sun. Merlin shifted as something tickled near a shoulder blade, sighed his satisfaction as scratchy bark eased the niggling feeling. Dropping the book to the tartan wool, he absently studied the petite petals on the fragile flower. One had come away, ruining the perfect symmetry but Merlin smiled his satisfaction. He hated pretty perfection, as somehow it jarred. Eyeing it, he frowned thoughtfully and plucked another petal, and as he did so made a wish. It was a superstition in his village, Ealdor, that if you wished upon a daisy then you would receive your hearts desire. Of course, it was only the youngest of children who took this to heart, he had long since scoffed at such foolishness, and yet…here he was.

_For every petal thou pluck thus increased doth thy luck... _

Merlin mumbled under his breath the familiar rhyme as he pictured his heart's desire and then threw the stem into the babbling water and watched as it floated slowly away. Merlin shook his head at the foolishness of his thoughts and the unlikely chance of his wish coming true.

The shade of the tree was beginning to feel rather too cool on his bare torso, and Merlin shifted, unsettled, but unwilling to move.

He shivered and wrapped an arm around his middle. For pity's sake! Merlin rose swiftly, dragging the rug in a smooth movement; book tucked under arm and gazed around for the best spot. It would not be long until he would have to go home, so Merlin was intent on making the most of having a free afternoon to do as he pleased in peace and quiet.

Smoothing the wool over a sunlit spot, which seemed just right, not too hot, Merlin eased back down and lay spread flat on his stomach, chin resting in his hands and observed the sparkling water stream along just in front of where he lay. Heaven, he surmised was most probably like this. His eyes were fluttering shut when he heard a pounding sound like a horse's hooves hitting hard ground.

"You there!" a voice suddenly cried stridently. "I say, you shouldn't be here!"

The voice was grating and craning his neck until it protested Merlin stared up at the figure on horseback that was incredibly imposing from their superior height. Merlin felt instantly upset and not a little ticked off as he had considered this his favourite and most secret place for weeks now. He had finally escaped that hellhole the deans called a college and come home for the summer, only to find quiet and now have some interloper try to snatch it away. He loved his mother, truly, but he needed his own space, always had, he was a sensitive dreamer as Gaius liked to say.

Then he realised the man was still talking. Damn he had gone off on a tangent again. As he refocused, he noticed another couple had joined this man, also on horseback.

"Are you even listening boy?" the man grated out, obviously impatient.

Taking in his appearance properly, Merlin was chagrined to find the stranger incredibly attractive. After a closer look he then realised that he knew the identity of this man, had in fact met him before. Remembered him from years before when he had been about six years old and Arthur seven. They had even played, albeit briefly at a largish summer party Arthur's father had held for all of the villagers to attend. That however had been when Arthur's mother had been alive and Uther had been a great smiling bear of a man. Long gone were those days and looking at the man before him, Merlin could not see the grinning mischievous child he had once been.

"_Well_," a silken male voice stated with emphasis. "What lovely hidden delights are you keeping from us?"

"Indeed," a female and clearly well bred voice added, "now I see why you wished to take on this challenge to beat Lance here to a race. To the brook and back, you said. Did you arrange an assignation?" An amused cackle made Merlin's hackles rise and turning his attention to this Arthur; he could see a similar reaction in the man in the set of his shoulders and the twist to his lips.

"Lance shut up, _do_, and Morgana, I'm not amused!" he protested before adding, "And I would hardly bring you two with me if I was."

He turned to Merlin. "You shouldn't be here, this is private property and if you will follow me I will personally escort you off the premises."

The man slid from his steed and began to stride forward, arm reached out as if to grasp hold of Merlin.

Merlin shied back. He wasn't frightened but disliked being touched by strangers. Or rather, his magic did not like being touched by strangers. It hissed, sparked quite literally at anyone (apart from mother or Gaius) who touched him.

The man's hand fell short of grasping him but then Merlin stumbled and flailed before gasping in relief as he was steadied. There was sparks, great fireworks in fact, but in no way were they angry or defensive. He then realised the cause and could have dropped dead from shock - or from perhaps plain old despair at his magic's damn foolish behaviour- or just possibly from its crappy sense of humour.

He forced a peek at the other man. The look of transparent awe on his face made Merlin's insides squirm. The intense blue stare also held unbelievable heat, which was like nothing he had ever experienced. Merlin needed to get away and quickly.

"Hey! Wait!" he heard Arthur cry but there was no stopping him and he could hear muffled shouting from the other two as they got involved in the cacophony of sound.

Damn it, why did he have to wish on a stupid daisy, bump into bloody Sir Snobalot and why, oh why, did _he_ have to be the one to light my fire. God! Now he was spouting cheesy dialogue from the romance novels his godfather Gaius read but pretended not to.

He got as far as leaping the brook, weaving around four or five trees before a panting, sweaty man grappled him to the ground. Generally, this would not be a problem…but here and now, with _him,_ it rather was. He was not going to give in to this, no matter what he'd been told by a warty wise women Gaius had dragged him to. Really, witches like her gave them all a bad name. She'd foretold that he would be powerful, "extremely so" with an envious gleam in her eye as she watched him. "He'd meet his love soon" and Merlin would know immediately his identity with the very first touch.

Hah! He'd met Arthur as a child and nothing had occurred of any significance. No explosions, no wondrous signs to reveal him as Merlin's future mate. He supposed they _had _been a little young but still…

All the air was leaving his body as he lay face down and crushed whilst grass tickled his face and upper body. He tried to speak but couldn't raise an effort great enough to get out more than a whispered "Arthur."

"You know me?" the man breathed, far too close for comfort, warm breath tickling his senses where it brushed over his left ear.

Despite _knowing_, that there must have been a mistake (way out of his league and that wasn't taking into account the frightening Uther) Merlin helplessly felt his body respond to the proximity of the other man.

He was reacting in a perfectly natural manner. Perfectly natural, if a reasonably attractive male (okay drop-dead gorgeous one) lay on top of you then he defied the majority of people to resist.

He felt the beginnings of an erection. Brilliant.

How to get him off, no, how to make the great lump _move away_ from his person without revealing his own embarrassing reaction. Reflecting on this Merlin concluded it wouldn't work. For one thing, the man wanted to see him off what was apparently Pendragon land and to do that Merlin couldn't slide along on his belly.

Mr. Potts in a pair of Speedos and singing 'you sexy thing'. Merlin repeated it like a mantra as he imagined his Maths professor in such an ensemble and sighed in relief as he felt the results of such a disgusting imagining.

"Excuse me?" Arthur asked sounding incredulous.

Merlin flushed. Well, fuck. Had he said that aloud?

"Nothing," he snapped to cover up his embarrassment but wondered balefully just how vibrant a shade of red his neck and ears were at present. "Move will you," he protested and wriggled a bit to try to throw the heavier man off.

He heard what sounded suspiciously like stifled laughter and then, thank the Lord, the man moved.

He heaved a great sigh, got to his feet, exaggerating his stretching, and groans as he did so. Arthur was rolling his eyes and watching him intently.

"Merlin," he stated matter of fact.

Merlin quirked a brow. "What?" he asked.

Another eye roll. "No, I remember you now," Arthur murmured thoughtfully and let his eyes do a full sweep over the other man. "You were a lot smaller, and you didn't have those" - Arthur reached out to touch Merlin's cheekbone then seemed to realise as he withdrew it quickly – "but essentially you look the same."

Merlin shuddered and then told himself to get a grip. Sure, the man was beautiful, rich and no doubt fabulously talented in many ways-which distracted Merlin for a few seconds as he considered the possibilities-but Arthur wasn't for him. No matter what his magic seemed to think.

Scanning their immediate surroundings, Merlin could see that they were alone, it seemed that Arthur's companions had returned from where they'd come.

He wanted away from this man before he questioned their connection or intense responses. Merlin gave up on his private secret place and tilted his chin.

"You said something about trespassing," he muttered directly. "I'll just go back home now, I can see myself off your land." He crinkled his brow and forced the words. "I'm sorry for disturbing you and your friends." Then he turned to follow the brook back toward his home. A hand captured him by the scruff of the neck and tugged.

"You're not going anywhere," Arthur said calmly as he spun Merlin round to face him. Merlin was pleased to see what he lost in pure muscle he made up for in height over this man, standing at a few inches taller. "Come with me until I check on my horse and we can sit and talk at the rather sweet little nest you made."

The man was mocking him.

Merlin glared, affronted, and ready to smack the arrogant smirk off the too handsome man.

"I'm leaving." He tried to get away, but was held firm.

"Please," the other man asked softly.

That one word undid Merlin as all the rants and tugging could not. "Okay," he grunted.

His reward was a glowing smile.

They walked for a few minutes, retracing their steps to where they found Merlin's rug, book and other miscellaneous items. The horse was fine, secured to the stump where Arthur had left her. After several pats, strokes and soft words the man turned to him and pointed to the rug.

Merlin wondered if he was above the horse or below in the pecking order and if there was any difference in how Arthur communicated with them. Still he went and sat.

"I want to know why we felt what we did when we touched," Arthur commanded.

Typical of that type of man that he assume Merlin felt the same. Annoyingly though he was correct in his assumptions. Great, gorgeous prat.

"I don't know what you mean," he mumbled and forced eye contact, trying to recall the proper behaviour to display when supposedly a person was being truthful.

"Bullshit!" Arthur exclaimed, quite shocking Merlin with the coarse language. "Our hands tingled and everything. There is no way that is normal."

"So I'm a freak?" Merlin demanded. "Thanks very much."

"No that's not what I'm saying at all!" Arthur huffed, twisting the woollen material under him in clenched hands. "You're getting away from the point, which is probably your intent."

Damn the man for being smart.

"Okay," he sighed and ran his hands through his overlong hair.

Looking at the man beside him Merlin realised he couldn't pretend anymore about his reaction and resigned himself to a life without his true love. There was no way Arthur would be happy to hear he was meant to be with Merlin, he struck him as the type who liked to think they were in control of their own destiny. He knew Arthur was gay, had heard through the grapevine, but that didn't mean he'd fall into _his_ arms. And there was the fact that he wasn't sure if he even fully liked the man, despite his overwhelming attraction and the small matter of being magically intended.

Where to start and what to say?

"I'm waiting here," Arthur prompted impatiently and his eyes were fixed on Merlin's unswervingly.

"Okay," Merlin mumbled. "The thing is..."

* * *

The taller man ran ahead down the wooden jetty, laughing merrily and waving a bottle of expensive red in the air as he did so. His blue eyes danced, black hair flopping all over his head with the movement of his body. Behind him, walking at a more sedate pace, a shorter but more heavily muscled man followed in his wake. His eyes shone, but the rest of him was perfectly in place, blonde hair not daring to move a jot.

"Come on slowcoach!" the first man cried as he uncorked the wine and filled two plastic tumblers.

With a grimace, Arthur reached for one eyeing it like something that could bite.

Merlin swatted him on the head. "Snobby prat!" he crowed. "Just drink it, it cost a bloody fortune."

Smiling fondly Arthur did so and sat at the edge, dangling his feet over the side and viewed the still, blue depths. He held out a hand and tugged his partner down.

"Watch the drink!" Merlin protested gasping as a small amount sloshed over the rim of his tumbler.

He settled under the crook of Arthur's arm however with a satisfied sigh of contentment. An arm wrapped round the other man's neck and pulled in order to steal a kiss.

"What are you thinking?" he wondered as he tipped his head back and studied Arthur's strangely set expression. Come to think on it, Arthur had been acting weird all day.

"Don't you know what day this is?" he was softly asked.

Merlin had to think for a bit but then it came to him in a shot.

"A year ago today we met at your home," he murmured. How could he have forgotten such a momentous day?

"I can't believe it took me two entire weeks to get my head around the fact that you are mine," Arthur grunted in self-disgust.

"I totally agree," Merlin smirked. He ignored Arthur's "hey" and added, "You're mine too though."

Arthur stroked the fringe from his partner's eyes and his eyes glowed. "Right."

They sat quietly for several minutes, just soaking in the tranquil setting and the beauty of the setting sun.

Merlin felt Arthur shift and there was tenseness to his frame that did not usually dwell there.

"What..." he began but was interrupted.

"Merlin Emrys, would you shut up and listen for the first time in your life."

Arthur was reaching in his pocket for something, cursing under his breath for a second before retrieving a small box. Merlin froze.

Arthur took hold of the other man's chin and lifted it until their eyes met. "Merlin Emrys, I bless whatever force decreed that you should be mine. Without you, I am half a man, without you I am not at peace. Please do me the honour of becoming my husband." It was spoken in hushed tones, not bold and confident like the man was, down to the bone.

Merlin's heart raced and he wondered if his face was turning blue, cos it felt like he'd stopped breathing.

"Erm, honey?" Arthur was asking, uncertainty in every line of his face and stress in his eyes.

With a shriek, Merlin flung himself on the man and squeezed the life out of him. Then he pulled back, gasped a husky "yes" and grabbed Arthur's left hand to reveal two plain, silver bands sitting in the tiny box.

"Oh thank God!" Arthur muttered and pulled him back close.

Later they did it all properly, slid on the rings, spoke solemn vows, but right now they were content with being them.


End file.
